TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2026
Reliable information: We've been reliably told that Labor Day weekend is officially over. On the other hand, we'll be off campus until midday—on a mission of national import. though then again possibly not
It seems to us that a certain situation out in the world is perhaps becoming even more clear—so clear that our tribunes may even start to take notice. (Click here, scan in particular for statement by Mary Trump.) But we may not be posting again today, and posting this week may be light.
We'll advise you to click as suggested above. You'll see Mary Trump use a technical term; "decompensating." If we post tomorrow, we'll attempt to explain what that word means in the current context.
As always, the fact that she said what she said doesn't prove that it's right.
Cecelia decompensates every day.
ReplyDeleteDavid decomposes every day.
DeleteRepublicans and Democrats both get corrupted quickly upon election because they get sucked into a system which is about money, re-election, donors and special interests.
ReplyDeletePublicly-funded only elections and political campaigns, FTW!
DeleteDemocracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.
DeleteThe gop, including the conservatives on the Supreme Court, decided that Democracy doesn’t work for them, so they’re going with authoritarianism. Trump shall not be crossed. Hope we can salvage it in November.
DeleteThe problem with Capitalism is it needs to be bailed-out by the government when it fails.
DeleteOh, and by the way, the People want money out of politics, but the Supreme Court has decided that money is speech, which is sacred and cannot be abridged in any way.
DeleteUnless that is you are a student protesting the war in Gaza. Then obviously you surrender your right to free speech. But I digress.
We have the best government that money can buy.
DeleteMark Twain
Hey Dickhead, your little bitch Bibi was warned by UAE that Oct. 7 was coming. And the evil corrupt POS did nothing. You suck so bad for defending these crooks and cunts you useless jaggoff.
DeleteDickhead response to 5:54,
Deletechirp….chirp….chirp…chirp…….
When mainstream news outlets start "raising questions" or "some people are saying," it's happening. Otherwise, it isn't.
ReplyDeleteSomerby has his agenda, facts be damned.
Delete"As always, the fact that she said what she said doesn't prove that it's right."
ReplyDeleteWhat proves whether she is right or not is Trump's behavior compared to the definition of the word.
But decompensating isn't the criterion for keeping or removing the president either. It is whether he is doing the job competently or not, endangering our country and people. Trump has been manifestly incompetent for a long time and our Congress and the VP have not acted because Republicans do not wish to give up whatever power Trump is giving them. That is shameful.
Decompensation occurs when someone cannot cope with stress. Trump has no idea what to do about the situations he is in as president. It is elder abuse to keep him in the position when he has no idea what to do as president.
This is the first time that Somerby has mentioned removing Trump. Let's hope he and others follow through on that obvious remedy.
Trump finds himself in a situation he cannot cope with, so he reverts to the things he knows how to do. That is why he has been demolishing buildings, calling people names, worrying about branding (his own name and that of America), holding rallies and grifting. That is all he knows how to do.
ReplyDeleteNeeds more "Blaming everything that ever went bad for a white male on everyone who isn't one".
DeleteTrump damages the white male brand.
DeleteThe white male brand is indestructible among white males.
DeleteMajority of crimes are committed by White male Christians.
DeleteThe sexual assaults and pedophilia, for sure.
DeleteThey outsource much of their violence to the police and military. That way, they commit violence, but don't have to accept responsibility for being violent -- in fact, they accuse their victims of being the violent ones. That's hundreds of years of history.
DeleteWe must pity Donald Trump, who is decompensating because his father was stern and distant, poor fella.
ReplyDeleteFred supported the KKK and the Nazis, but as far as we know, he never sexually assaulted women, unlike his son, who also SA'd minors, now essentially a requirement for being a Republican leader.
DeleteI'd be shocked if Fred never SA'd anyone. He was a super-rich guy with a massive ego and love of domination. People like that don't even see it as assault, but rather, simply exercising their prerogative.
DeleteMe too.
DeleteFred was probably better at hiding that type of repugnant behavior.
Mores were different, attitudes towards and among, women were different. He likely didn't have to hide very much.
DeleteSo, I’m hearing “let’s pity Donald”
DeleteNo?
He is decompensating because he is old, in poor health and has a genetic degenerative disease, like his father did. Whoever voted for Trump should have their heads examined.
DeleteOh, I don't know about that. The tech bros and big money are doing great. People who wanted to sit at home and watch immigrants being chased around and beaten on the TV are getting the entertainment they voted for. Anyone who thought the Trump rank and file voted for him because they expected to get the traditional notion of good government -- now THEY need to have their heads examined.
DeleteOur Orange Boy needs a re-do of his Tent Stake Procedure...
DeleteI would have thought decompensation had something to do with how wages have been stagnant since the 70s, to the point that now going to work lowers one's quality of life, largely due to Republicans ushering in neoliberalism and the supremacy of corporations.
ReplyDeleteI posted a description of the way a fake office and secretary were provided to Fred Trump so that he could pretend to do business. It came, with cites, from Wikipedia. It has now been removed twice.
ReplyDeleteI pointed out that the situation is the same for Donald Trump. He goes through the motions of fake presidential behavior, giving incoherent speeches at poorly attended rallies, signing executive orders that have no force because the president does not have the authority to issue them, holding cabinet meetings and ceremonies that he sleeps through, and issuing a stream of nonsense on Truth Social. These things are not what a real president does. They are pretend. Unfortunately, those around Trump allowed him to start a war with Iran, issue tariffs that are undermining our economy, alienate our allies, capture Maduro and take over Venezuela, and engage in petty destruction of useful programs. That is real damage to all of us.
Let's see if this comment is allowed to stick:
"Fred Trump Sr. had a fake office set up for him in his final years at the Trump Organization in Brooklyn to help manage his Alzheimer's disease. (https://www.facebook.com/christinaloreynews/posts/feels-like-this-information-is-relevant-right-now-the-current-presidents-dad-fre/1319434836670425/)
The Diagnosis: Fred Trump Sr. was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in the early 1990s.
The Setup: His family and colleagues created a pretend office environment where he could continue his daily routine.
The Routine: He would go to work daily and spend his time sorting and signing blank pieces of paper.
The Purpose: The illusion of productivity kept him calm, gave him a sense of purpose, and shielded him from agitation. (https://www.facebook.com/christinaloreynews/posts/feels-like-this-information-is-relevant-right-now-the-current-presidents-dad-fre/1319434836670425/)"
After you publish a comment, leave the site and come back. If your comment is still there, it won’t be deleted.
DeleteThx, will try that.
DeleteSandra Bullock has died.
ReplyDeleteShe’s only sixty-two years old.
DeleteShe's not dead.
DeleteNot the actress, dumbass.
DeleteSandra Bullock the actress is a good decent person so why create confusion about her demise?
Delete"WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)— Donald J. Trump lashed out at critics of his aide Natalie Harp on Tuesday after she shared screenshots of the nation’s nuclear codes on her Instagram.
ReplyDeleteNational security experts expressed alarm about Harp’s social media post, which featured a clearly legible image of the nuclear codes adorned with heart and smiley-face emojis.
“Despite what the fake news says, Natalie is doing an amazing job,” Trump said. “That post got millions of likes, from places as far away as Russia, China, and Iran.”
In an unexpected vote of support, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also defended Harp, telling reporters, “The world is safer if she has the nuclear codes and he doesn’t.”
Odd that Somerby is right there quoting Woody Guthrie lyrics on so many days that have nothing to do with labor history, but then Somerby has nothing to say about Guthrie's signal cause on Labor Day itself. It is almost as if Somerby has no real interest in working people. That tends to make Somerby's repeated borrowing of Guthrie's songs a kind of stolen valor. Somerby hasn't worked for a salary since 1972, quitting the moment his defined-benefit pension vested, so it is unsurprising he has no empathy for those who still toil.
ReplyDeleteBetter that Somerby should say nothing than that he should embarrass himself by pretending to empathize with workers, the way Trump is going around pretending he helped on 9/11 by leading a crew of construction workers to the site.
Lack of pension is one of the things that differentiates the USA from the more civilized countries in Europe where there is old-age security beyond a person's meager 401K and a post-retirement job at King Sooper. The Republicans are talking about cutting social security. Crickets from Somerby.
PISA reading scores are down 25% since 2022 for US students (15 year olds). Is this the best time to dismantle the Dept of Education?
ReplyDeleteFuck off.
DeleteIs this no longer a blog where Somerby discusses education?
DeleteSomerby turned it into a Right-wing vanity blog about a decade ago.
DeleteTry to keep up.
DOGE and Linda McMahon have obviated the need to dismantle the agency.
DeleteBut thanks for playing.
If reading scores go down, we need the Dept of Education, so increase their budget.
ReplyDeleteIf reading scores go up, the Dept. of Education is doing a great job, so increase their budget.
You could make a similar remark about the Department of War.
DeleteFuck you, dickhead
DeleteTypical MAGAt narrative. Fictional but gives them pleasure.
DeleteDavid,
DeleteWe lost a war to Iran on Day One due to the federal deficit.
What makes you think we can afford to have border control?
9/11: Need tax cuts for rich people.
DeleteIraq invasion: Need tax cuts for rich people.
2008: mortgage meltdown: Need tax cuts and bailouts for rich people.
2016: Tax cuts for rich people, just because.
2024: Tax cuts for rich people, just because.
Clearly, what will fix the reading scores is more tax cuts for rich people.
7:36,
DeleteBut some of America's finest bigots told me it was Democrats who work for the elites.
To borrow from Obi Wan, they are correct ... from a certain perspective. Right wing populism is a war against "cultural elites," a "cultural elite" being someone who believes in two of liberalism's key principles: equality before the law, and individual liberty.
DeleteYou might think of an elite as someone who is at the top of the economic pyramid and runs everything. They think of an elite as someone who finger-wags about discrimination against, and marginalization of, other people, and pretty much don't care about anything else until they are getting squeezed hard by economic reality -- and even then, they only sort-of care. It's an entirely different worldview, one for which Somerby demonstrates a high degree of sympathy every time he blames the left for the right's bad behavior.
To the Right, an elite is anyone who says they shouldn't use the n-word in public.
DeleteYou might think 5+5=10.
DeleteThey think 5+5=4.
Both sides, amirite?
When Somerby says the left contributes to right-wing behavior, what is your reasoning that it is sympathetic towards the right?
Delete10:17,
DeleteHe's not.
Instead, Somerby is claiming the Right are nothing but reactionaries.
My complaint about Somerby is he's slow on the uptake, since he's recently figured out something that's been obvious since the Reagan Presidential Administration.
I was asking the person that said this:
Delete"It's an entirely different worldview, one for which Somerby demonstrates a high degree of sympathy every time he blames the left for the right's bad behavior."
What is your reasoning behind the claim that "Somerby is claiming the Right are nothing but reactionaries."?
DeleteIt implies the left can somehow disarm the right by not criticizing them for what they do. 250 years of American history says otherwise. Did toleration of slavery make the South decide it was immoral (not to mention bad economics) or was it the use of force? Did tolerance, (gazing off into space, Somerby might say) of Jim Crow allow the South time to realize it was evil, and change on their own? No, it did not.
DeleteSomerby's criticism of the left -- often using tortuously specious examples I might add -- is predicated on the notion that those good and decent people on the right will bring themselves to reason, if only us "snooty Blues" (good name for a Congressional rock band) would gaze off to the horizon and leave them to their own devices. In the meantime, slavery, Jim Crow, gay marriage and gay rights overall, hell, even the 19th Amendment, say no, they will not.
The other half of it is the idea that some things are so repugnant, so antithetical to the values of liberalism that they DEMAND being attacked. Somerby doesn't seem to think so -- everything is negotiable, to the point where you shouldn't even discuss them for fear of offending those delicate Reds. I can imagine the current version of Somerby being transported back to the late 50s, saying "The time isn't right for us Blues to be pushing the Civil Rights issue. "Those Reds" will take care if it on their own in the fullness of time. Leave them be in their beautiful shotgun shacks -- really, the envy of the world, no shade thrown here -- with their Citizens' Councils run by plenty of fine and decent people."
Can you provide proof that Somerby's criticism depends upon the belief that conservatives will independently become reasonable if liberals leave them alone?
DeleteCould it be that he does not believe that at all? And that he is suggesting something different? Is that possible?
It's either that or he doesn't care. I concede that, in fact, it's more the latter than the former, which is simply a fig leaf. If Somerby has some kind of brilliant plan for progress he would say what it is rather then "suggesting" it.
DeleteI see. And you can only think of two options, 1. Somerby's criticism depends upon the belief that conservatives will independently become reasonable if liberals leave them alone or 2. he doesn't care? No other options come to mind? Do you believe that no other options besides those two exist?
DeleteI actually presented three options, one of which is pretty much self-eliminating. But if you know of another, by all means, reveal it.
DeleteYou cannot think of any?
DeleteApparently, neither can you.
DeleteThose are the only two (3) you can think of?
DeleteEg. Liberal behavior may alienate potential voters that could swing important elections.
DeleteThat would be an option, would it not?
The most effective options are classified.
DeleteOr he may think that liberal behavior that is made up of exaggerations or poorly reasoned critiques may strengthen conservatives. That would be an option, would it not?
DeleteWhat's at hand is how to deal with specific issues, not "strengthening conservatives."
DeleteThat said, I dealt with the electoral stuff literally in the first sentence of the long post. But I'll deal with it again, more in depth.
Somerby blames Biden's immigration policy for Harris' loss. Yet, Obama literally set records for deportations in his terms. SET RECORDS. Trump still crept into office with a campaign that was little more than immigrant-baiting and the promise of ugliness. "Open borders" ring a bell? The crime rate has been dropping for decades, and is now at historic lows. Half the country believes they are rising. Want to guess who comprises the majority of that half? Could it possibly be "those Reds," good and decent people though they are?
I see no evidence there is some way to disarm (literally, as well) people who are looking for something to get fired up about. They don't pay attention to policies, in most cases don't even understand them, and actual facts are meaningless compared to what they feel to be true. But Somerby engages in his endless accusatory handwringing about it anyway, as if there's some key "us Blues" can turn, but won't. "Those Reds" fell in love with Trump and Trumpism and flocked to the polls to support him, because he represents the distillation of their every dark, parochial impulse, not because of anything "us Blues" did, or could have done. And still, Somerby blames "us Blues" for it.
Good to see you are moving from your original position.
DeleteWhat is your evidence that Somerby's intention is to "disarm" the right?
Do you have proof that nothing liberals say or do affects persuadable conservative voters?
If conservatives are looking for something to get fired up about, doesn't that strengthen Somerby's argument about some liberal behavior?
"Good to see you are moving from your original position."
DeleteYou're either extremely stupid, or an extremely stupid eristic troll. There is no third option.
By that I just mean not trying to make an argument that Somerby's criticism depends on either the belief that conservatives will independently become reasonable if liberals leave them alone or he doesn't care.
DeleteBecause there are so many other options besides those two. (See above for examples.)
If conservatives are looking for something to get fired up about, doesn't that strengthen Somerby's argument about some liberal behavior?
DeleteHow can someone know if this is true?
Delete"Those Reds" fell in love with Trump and Trumpism and flocked to the polls to support him, because he represents the distillation of their every dark, parochial impulse, not because of anything "us Blues" did."
How can someone have special knowledge of why voters voted for Trump and what behaviors did or didn't lead them to do so?
All politicians lie. As do folks who claim there is a Republican voter who isn't a bigot.
ReplyDelete